A Public Policy Update from
1000 Friends of Iowa arrived in my in-box this afternoon. It urges citizens to contact legislators to ask them to vote no on House File 2691 and Senate File 2420.
You can find your legislator through this site:
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/F…
To call members of the House, dial (515) 281-3221; for members of the Senate, dial (515) 281-3371.
You can contact Governor Chet Culver’s office at (515) 281-5211, or use an e-mail form here:
http://www.governor.iowa.gov/a…
The full text of the action alert is after the jump, but here are some highlights. The two main problems with these identical bills are:
1. There is no fix-it-first policy to assure us that maintenance will come first, and in this legislation, the new money could be wasted on expensive new roads.
2. Public transit does not receive additional, annual funding with the new money. Additional, reliable state funding for transit would help more Iowans avoid high gas prices, and would create more vibrant communities.
Stephanie Weisenbach, program coordinator for 1000 Friends of Iowa, explains why the lack of a “fix-it-first” policy is a problem:
House File 2691 and Senate File 2420 would put up to $126 million more a year into roads. This may look okay on the surface, but here’s the real scoop on this road policy:The allocation of the funding doesn’t make maintenance the foundation of funding decisions. Sixty percent of it would go to the state for highways, twenty percent to counties, and twenty percent to cities. HERE’S HOW IT WOULD BE SPENT:
* The Iowa DOT, which would receive a lion’s share of the funding, could waste the money on expensive highway projects for speculative development interests. The legislation lacks language to prioritize maintenance of highways and interstates.
* Cities could spend their funding on whatever roads they choose- existing OR new – meaning some developers could put the pressure on to fulfill wish lists for new roads.
* Counties would have to spend their funding primarily on maintenance. However, after learning about the maintenance needs of county roads, it’s obvious that the way this funding would be distributed won’t satisfy maintenance needs of many Iowa counties.
In light of record oil prices and projections that gasoline may cost $4 a gallon soon, you would think that Iowa legislators might see the value of investing more resources into alternative forms of transportation. Unfortunately, you would be wrong:
The Lost Opportunity for Transit:
Transit funding is shuffled to another source or revenue in this legislation, but not increased. In this maneuver of state revenue, the percentage of revenues that transit receives is moved to another pot of money than it’s current source. Its percentage of funding of this mix of revenues was 4 percent in the old system, and 4 percent in the new system due to this legislation. This is essentially the same amount, about 10 million depending on the fluctuation of fees that are paid. Lawmakers could have bumped up that percentage and provided a few million extra dollars of reliable money each year to urban and rural transit systems statewide. But they haven’t.
Iowa’s state funding for public transit seems particularly inadequate when you compare it to what our neighbors to the north provide, as I learned from this recent radio news story:
Legislature “Missing the Bus” On Transit Funding?
April 11, 2008
Des Moines, IA – With gas prices soaring ever higher, more Iowans are turning to public transit to get around. However, such transportation is not getting much attention at the statehouse as the legislative session winds down. With lawmakers making final decisions on dividing up the money, transit providers say they need a reliable, annual source of funding from the state.
John Rodecker with Key Line Transit in Dubuque says his agency only receives about $170,000 a year in state assistance.
“We have a budget of $2.4 million for FY 09. Needless to say, it’s a small drop in the bucket of our overall budget.”
The Twin Cities transit agency in neighboring Minnesota receives 63 percent of its operating budget from its state government. In contrast, Des Moines Area Regional Transit gets only six percent of its budget from the state of Iowa. Manager Brad Miller says that’s not enough.
“State assistance is predicted to go down next year from what it was this year, despite our rising operating costs.”
Miller and Rodecker agree that a stronger commitment to funding transit in Iowa will help conserve limited oil resources and create more vibrant communities.
Dick Layman/Craig Eicher, Public News Service – IA
The full text of the action alert from 1000 Friends of Iowa is after the jump. It contains much more background information on the subject.
Dear Friends,
The Iowa legislature is scheduled to adjourn on April 22. It’s down to the wire, and the wire is hot on transportation funding. We ask that you contact legislators immediately and ask them to vote no on House File 2691 Senate File 2420. Contact info for the legislature is at the bottom of this alert.
Two identical bills in the House and Senate would increase transportation revenue, such as vehicle registration and license fees, and are likely to be voted on by the full legislature any day now. The new money would be up to $126 million dollars more each year for roads. These bills just received new numbers – House File 2691 and Senate File 2420. Ask your legislators to vote no because:
1. There is no fix-it-first policy to assure us that maintenance will come first, and in this legislation, the new money could be wasted on expensive new roads.
2. Public transit does not receive additional, annual funding with the new money. Additional, reliable state funding for transit would help more Iowans avoid high gas prices, and would create more vibrant communities.
Recently we heard from a 1000 Friends of Iowa member who has been fighting an expensive and destructive highway project proposed in Eastern Iowa. She wrote the Iowa Department of Transportation with some good questions about the project and how decisions will be made about it. She received a generic brochure in the mail from DOT that did not address her questions. She wrote to me “I am very nervous about the DOT receiving more money without it addressing a fix-it-first road policy and wider transit options.”
This is precisely why we have to hold our officials and agencies accountable and say no new money until we know it’ll be spent wisely.
We tried to be pro-active and improve the bills into something we’d support, but powerful interests with deep pockets have had an unfair level of influence on this legislation. Please contact your legislators and ask them to vote no on House File 2691 and Senate File 2420. The details on how we came to this level of opposition are outlined below.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Weisenbach
1000 Friends of Iowa
Road Maintenance Not Thoroughly Addressed
As you ride or drive in a vehicle in your community, you’ve noticed the rough shape of the roads in your neighborhood. This past winter has been brutal on our roads. Many of our gravel roads are messy and dangerous. Our paved roads are dented with potholes. We know there’s maintenance work to do, but it takes money to do that work. Our spending policies have to be changed to be certain that these needs will be met.
In the media, elected officials and Governor Culver will talk about how this funding will improve our existing roads. That sounds good, but how many roads won’t be fixed when the policy allows for expensive new road projects to be easily eligible for the new funding?
House File 2691 and Senate File 2420 would put up to $126 million more a year into roads. This may look okay on the surface, but here’s the real scoop on this road policy:
The allocation of the funding doesn’t make maintenance the foundation of funding decisions. Sixty percent of it would go to the state for highways, twenty percent to counties, and twenty percent to cities. HERE’S HOW IT WOULD BE SPENT:
* The Iowa DOT, which would receive a lion’s share of the funding, could waste the money on expensive highway projects for speculative development interests. The legislation lacks language to prioritize maintenance of highways and interstates.
* Cities could spend their funding on whatever roads they choose- existing OR new – meaning some developers could put the pressure on to fulfill wish lists for new roads.
* Counties would have to spend their funding primarily on maintenance. However, after learning about the maintenance needs of county roads, it’s obvious that the way this funding would be distributed won’t satisfy maintenance needs of many Iowa counties.
The spending plan for this new money is not based on a tier system of solving our dire maintenance needs first. (A fix-it-first policy). If the state could adopt a policy on controlling sprawl and saying no to costly, unneeded highway projects, then we’d be confident that our maintenance needs were being addressed.
How these Bills Ignore the Opportunity to Increase Transit Funding
House File 2691 and Senate File 2420 outline the increases of various registration and license fees while moving around pots of money the state administers.
The Lost Opportunity for Transit:
Transit funding is shuffled to another source or revenue in this legislation, but not increased. In this manuever of state revenue, the percentage of revenues that transit receives is moved to another pot of money than it’s current source. Its percentage of funding of this mix of revenues was 4 percent in the old system, and 4 percent in the new system due to this legislation. This is essentially the same amount, about 10 million depending on the fluctuation of fees that are paid. Lawmakers could have bumped up that percentage and provided a few million extra dollars of reliable money each year to urban and rural transit systems statewide. But they haven’t.
Transit Gets Stuck in a Ditch:
We have suggested this increase in transit funding to lawmakers, but no one has been willing to offer the amendment. Even our allies in the legislature are paving the way for roads to receive all of the new money.
This last week we made a plea to a transit-supportive legislator about this, and she said we can’t get more transit money “because we can’t find enough money for roads.”
If the legislature considers a gas tax increase NEXT session in 2009, which lawmakers and the Governor say they will be, transit will be left out of that funding because the gas tax is constitutionally protected just for roads.
Right now we have a golden opportunity to increase transit funding. If the legislature passes these bills then they will be letting the opportunity cruise on by.
1000 Friends Makes the Case for Balanced Transportation in the Des Moines Register
In last Friday’s Des Moines Register, an OpEd we submitted brought our position on this transportation funding legislation, along with important facts, to the attention of more Iowans. You can read it by clicking on this link:
http://www.desmoinesregister.c…
Update on Brownfields/Grayfields
In our last Public Policy Update, we educated you on House File 2351 which provides incentives to redevelop brownfields and grayfields properties. House File 2687 is the new bill number and you can read it at:
http://coolice.legis.state.ia….
In principle, we support incentives for the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields sites. This bill is new territory for the state of Iowa, and we hope that if it passes we’ll be able to learn more about how to make the best use of these incentives and tweak the language in future years. Some of the language in the bill that once concerned us has been improved through amendments. For example, the definition of a grayfields site has been tightened to be more restrictive, although not as restrictive as we’d like it to be. Right now we support it and hope that it can evolve into an effective program over time.
Your Last Chance to Contact Policymakers
With the end of the 2008 session about a week away, and with transportation legislation up for a vote any day now, your voices are more important now then ever. Please contact your Representative and Senator today!
The switchboard for members of the House is (515) 281-3221; the switchboard for members of the Senate is (515) 281-3371.
You can look up your legislators by typing in your address and find their contact information at:
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/F…
Email form to send to Governor Chet Culver:
http://www.governor.iowa.gov/a…
Or Call
515.281.5211